The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as there was no evidence that any of the conditions contributing to his death were incurred during active naval service or due to exposure to herbicides.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not have a service-connected disability at the time of his death, and there was no evidence that any of the conditions contributing to his death (ARDS, cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis C, diabetes mellitus) were incurred during active naval service or due to exposure to herbicides.
- Claimed conditions
- Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Cirrhosis of the liver, Hepatitis C, Diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 19, 2009
- Citation
- 0906041
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,977 · Granted: 27% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0906041.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied a compensable initial rating for Hepatitis C, finding that the Veteran's condition was asymptomatic and did not meet the criteria for any higher rating.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's Hepatitis C with cirrhosis is related to service, and therefore grants service connection for these conditions.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
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